Raymond James Downgrades Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) to Outperform

Raymond James cut shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Raymond James currently has $52.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $75.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $23.00 in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.42.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS stock traded down $0.70 on Friday, reaching $16.58. The stock had a trading volume of 1,535,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,221,502. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $16.42 and a 1 year high of $43.99. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.17 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.99.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.36) by ($0.38). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company had revenue of $149.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.54) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total value of $139,781.90. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 138,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,482,123. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,222,222 shares of the company's stock worth $390,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,111 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,130,356 shares of the company's stock worth $221,551,000 after buying an additional 84,331 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,760,404 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,084,000 after buying an additional 939,289 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 127.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,856,442 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,239,000 after buying an additional 1,039,182 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838,952 shares of the company's stock worth $58,699,000 after acquiring an additional 28,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutic compounds through the inhibition of the complement system for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. It offers EMPAVELI for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, C3 glomerulopathy and immune complex membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-associated thrombotic microangiopathy; and SYFOVRE for treating geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration and geographic atrophy (GA).